Shed snaps up rival in £25m deal

'Footballers’ Wives' and 'Bad Girls' maker Shed Media is to buy rival TV production company Wall to Wall for up to £25m (€34.9m).

Wall to Wall makes hits including BBC1’s 'Who Do You Think You Are?' – where celebrities such as Bill Oddie and Moira Stewart trace their family histories - and BBC1 cop drama New Tricks, starring Dennis Waterman.

The deal values chief executive Alex Graham’s 75% stake in the business at up to £18.75m (€26.2m). Mr Graham, who founded London-based Wall to Wall in 1987, will join Shed’s board.

Wall to Wall has won a clutch of awards for its shows, which also include Child Genius, a Channel 4 series following the lives of 10 young prodigies.

Shed confirmed it was in advanced talks with the company over a possible deal on Monday.

It said: “Broadcasters are increasingly demanding programmes with long-running and returnable potential. Wall to Wall is well-placed to deliver these recurring shows.”

Shed is paying £20m (€27.9m) with a further £5m (€6.99m) dependent on performance targets.

The deal marks another step on the acquisition trail for Shed, the maker of BBC school drama Waterloo Road, as it recovers from ITV dropping both Bad Girls and Footballers’ Wives last year.

In September, Shed bought 'Twenty Twenty', the company behind 'Bad Lads Army' and 'That’ll Teach ‘Em'. It also owns 'Supernanny' maker Ricochet.

The company plans to generate more revenues from Wall to Wall’s library of more than 1,000 hours of programmes through international distribution and DVD sales.

Shed was established in 1998 by Eileen Gallagher, Brian Park, Ann McManus and Maureen Chadwick, who all worked together at Granada Television.